Not All For Money, Not All For Love

I just came back from a wedding dinner shoot, my last photo assignment for the month and year.

December has been a crazy month, keeping me busy with 7 shoots. Fortunately for me, I only have one shoot scheduled for January - for now.

December also sees the launch of my music album, ROCK ON PIANO. This album has eluded me in CD shops: I have no idea which category they classify this under: new age, rock or pop. Either the album is selling so well or the shops are shelving them in some obscure corner.

Just found out that one of my videographer affiliates will be retiring from freelancing videography due to career commitments. He decided to call it quits because he did not have the confidence of doing videography full-time.

Sometimes, I wonder, all the time and energy I spent on doing photography or music. What is it for? I'd be fooling myself if I say it's all a labour of love, but I'd also be lying if I say it's all about money, because, I really love what I am doing. In my last music assignment, I only charged $1000 to arrange 13 minus-one tracks. Yes it's below market-price because the album is for a school fund-raising. But then all the hours I spent on them made me wonder: is it worth it?

I think it'll be quite accurate to say that I am merely want some form of compensation for the time I spent, away from my family, on my hobbies.

Given a choice, I would not be too bothered with making every cent count. But with the arrival of my first child this year, I am no longer in capacity to indulge in personal enjoyment. Over the months, I have come to terms about shifting my priorities. I have got to devote more time with my family, unless there are financially-compelling reasons otherwise. In other words, the time I spent away from my family should be for increasing family income.

Put it bluntly, if I don't get much money out of the job, I would rather spend time with family.

That's probably going to be my mindset for 2008, until I encounter further changes to my life.

So, sorry, no more charity or free requests. I think I'll be happier spending time with family. Life is not all about money, but at least pay me enough to make me spend time away from my loved ones, ya.

Rock On Piano TV Commercial

My album has been on sale for 2 weeks, and people has been telling me they saw the ads on TV very often. But I did not manage to see it on TV myself. Until today.

I Missed...

I have no idea that I have actually blogged for more than a year already! It all started in 1 Nov 2006 and now I am in my 14th month.

Using Google Analytics, I can track where my readers come from, and I do notice I have a few regular readers, and that kindda puts me in a little pressure to update the blog so that they know what's happening in my life. And after blogging for a year, I feel that the one benefit of reading a person's blog is not really to be 'kaypo', but actually to read a person's point of view and learn from these thoughts. I am not any philosopher, but I have my way of living life which I feel is keeping me quite happy and contented.

Each blogger has their own agenda. Some for fame, some for attention, some to network. There is no right or wrong. There are no rules to blogging. No one should impose what a person can write. If you don't like what you see or read, just don't visit again. The ironic thing is that, these "blogger-haters" want to leave their mark there because they know their comments will be read by a lot of people on these popular blogs. Agenda: fame/infamy.

So what's my blog's agenda?

I think I've mostly kept to my initial objective: to share my personal thoughts on music, photography, life. In the first months of blogging, I tried to blog everyday, writing about my events - a diary. Then I realised that it's not appropriate. A diary is a log of your personal stuffs. A blog is a diary of your personal stuffs that you want people to read. You either make sure that you have a hoard of people interested in your daily routine (not a problem with girls blog with lots of photos) or your blog has information worth reading on.

So for 14 months, I have shared photos (mostly of my newborn girl), music (mostly piano arrangements of pop songs, only these I can post them online for full listen), and life (mostly as a multi-tasking dad). I cannot guarantee that my blog will sustain the "interestability", but it's quite a good indicator of my life. If it gets too dull, that means my life is as smooth and boring as a paper.

Thank you for visiting my blog again and again. Happy Birthday to me and Merry Christmas to you.

Silent Nights No More

For the past weeks, putting Mayenne to sleep has been an onerous task. We usually coax her to sleep on our arms, but when we transferred her to the bed, the first thing she always does is to turn to her tummy and starts to fuss. Only if we carry her long enough that she would keep still. Even so, it's highly likely that she would toss and wake up within an hour - except when she gets really tired.

Mayenne has also been waking up many times throughout the night. And it's not for feeds. She can no longer sleep through the night. And she also wakes up very early, sometimes as early as 4am.

Even if we try to feed her regularly, she doesn't take as much milk. We suspect she has taken a liking for more more solid food.

But she's growing, and learning, becoming more child than an infant. She can now crawl animatedly and reaches for anything around her. She plays with her toys enthusiastically, on hand and on mouth.

Last Saturday, we brought her to see the Christmas tree at Ngee Ann City, possibly the largest indoor tree in Singapore. She always behaves in public, for she indulges in the new sights and sounds that surrounds her, so much so that she often forgets she is hungry.





Here are some other shots I took of her at home.

1. If she looked sickly, that is because she was. But we find her aloof look so adorable.

2. Here's one for daddy.
3. Happy with her favourite toy.

4. Always on the lookout for the camera.

What is our National Treasure?

When Nuffnang asked me "what is our national treasure", the first thing that comes to my mind is: Love.


As corny as it sounds, love makes everything and anything possible. With the power of love, we achieve.

Nuff said.

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets the movie will be screening in Singapore from 20 Dec 2007. Can't wait to watch what kind of conspiracy theory the script writers can come up with.

Images waiting to be processed

December is an overwhelming month for me. Lots of photography assignments, thousands of photos waiting to be processed. And it's only the 10th day. Quite a horrible feeling leaving the untouched photos alone, even for a day. Every time I finish my shoot, I would want to review the photos and edit them immediately, for I want to process the images to convey the exact mood that it was intended. Not this month. After this evening's eventful wedding shoot (the wettest shoot I've ever done yet!), I now have 3 projects waiting to be processed, and another project that I have completed processing but doing the photobook layout.

Personal portfolio shoot (work in progress)

ROM Solemnisation Shoot (completed editing, doing photobook layout)

Wedding (work in progress)

Rock On, Piano Spa!

Some news on my music albums.

First, my latest rock song piano album is out. ROCK ON PIANO is a 2-CD 24-track piano interpretation of some of the best soft rock songs on the planet. I have not got hold of one myself yet, but it should look like a DVD box, like this:

Second, my Piano Spa albums have extended its presence to the mobile domain. Currently, SingTel and StarHub are offering selected tracks for download into your mobile phones. Now you can enjoy relaxing therapeutic songs anywhere you go. But if I were you, I would grab the 3-CD 30-track album instead of downloading. At about $20, each track costs only $0.60, and you can convert and download onto whatever player you got. I do hope you can still find them, because music stores typically do not keep stocks of "old" albums. In time, Piano Spa albums would have become a collector's item. In fact, only the first press comes with the elongated packaging. Subsequent prints are packed in the normal thick jewel casings.

Class95 De'car

Every morning, my wife would tune in to Class95 radio station to listen to the radio deejays Glenn Ong and the Flying Dutchman talking sense (and often non-sense too). This morning, Glenn and Carol was on radio and they were mentioning about the car decal goodie giveaway happening at Bishan Stadium. Since it's near our home, we decided to go pick up the goodies.

When we reached the entrance of the car park, it was already 7pm. The car queue did not flow outside the car park so we thought it was rather short. Neither did we expect that this car park was deep! It snaked behind the swimming pool and the sports complex for a good 20 minutes before we saw the lorry of goodies - cartons of Whatever and Anything. The giveaway was very systematically executed: cars were asked to stop at 4 'stations' where helpers would load the cartons to the cars and the cars would drive away in less than 10 seconds.

It so happened that my car stopped right in front of Carol Smith's station, and it kindda caught me by surprise. Firstly, I did not expect her to be around when it was almost 7.30pm. Secondly, I did not expect her to be at my 'loading station'.

My windscreen was already wound down at the start of the queue thanks to the cool weather, so Carol saw us and said hi and continued, "Oh, what a big beautiful smile you've got there... well, I would too if I were you!" And I just smiled too, practically dumbfound, loss of words. After the cartons were loaded up, she wished us a merry Christmas and I drove off quickly not wanting to hold up the queue.

Thinking back, I would really want to say to her how appreciative we are to see her there and grateful to the Class95 crew for the goodies - and probably shake her hand, take a photo, whatever. But I'm not a very quick person when it comes to communicating, and this is not the first time. I would always reflect on myself after incidents were over only to regret what I did not say or do. Because I am basically a very "thought-full" person: I won't do something until I have completed my thought process and decided on my course of action.

Marina City Park No More

Last Saturday I went to Marina South with a client for portrait photoshoot. I wanted to visit some of the spots at the Marina City Park where I thought looked good. When I reached there, I was appalled to find that it has been razed to the ground, making way for yet another urban civilization - the Integrated Resort.

Sad.

If the park were still 'alive', these scenes would still be around.

Sleeping Seems To Be The Hardest Time

It's so hard to put Mayenne to bed, which is such an irony because she could nap at the oddest or noisiest places but not at the comfort of her own cosy bed.

She would toss and turn and make noises. She seems to want to flip to her tummy but after she did that she would still fuss.

The only thing I could do is to stay with her and turn her to her side or her back, hold down onto her, pat her, keep her still, coax her, until she finds a position she felt comfortable then she would stop fussing. If all goes well, she would drift into sleep. Else, she would toss and turn for another round.

This routine is repeated every night.

Commercial In Disguise

I was watching this music video and halfway through I felt something strange. I noticed that the MV focused a lot on the female lead's silky hair. Then I saw some product placement shots, and eventually I realised that this is not just a MV, but in fact a commercial for a hair product. Enjoy.

Rock On, Piano

My latest music album project is finally going to be released, according to my agent. The moment I got hold of the cover design images, I promptly created a web site, as I always did for all my other albums, Timeless and Piano Spa series. These are not official websites from the record label, but it's important to establish a web presence to let people search for album information on the web.

The web is really a powerful platform. Everyone should make a small effort to post information of their own products and services so that anyone can find information about them. Whenever someone tells me of a product, a service, a shop name, a person, a news, the first thing I do is to search online for information and validation. So if I can't find anything on the Internet regarding something, I will cast doubts on it.

This is my first commercial album on songs are not my originals. As the title suggests, this 24-track album features some of the most popular rock songs on the planet. But, instead of the "rocky" style, I re-arranged them to my trademark piano instrumental style. Some arrangements are totally unlike the original, while others carry similar feel.

If you enjoy these rock songs and want to enjoy them in a more conducive and less rocky feel, get this album for an alternative listen. If you hate rock songs, get this album to enjoy piano music.

What songs can you expect? Here's the track listing:

Disc One

1. Love Of A Lifetime
2. More Than Words
3. Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
4. The Flame
5. Winds of Change
6. November Rain
7. Love Will Keep Us Alive
8. When I See You Smile
9. When The Children Cry
10. Carrie
11. When I'm With You
12. Always

Disc Two

1. Was It Nothing At All
2. More Than Words Can Say
3. I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing
4. Listen To Your Heart
5. Alone
6. High Enough
7. Every Rose Has Its Thorns
8. Love Is On The Way
9. Wonderful Tonight
10. Where Are You Now
11. Faithfully
12. To Be With You

Visit http://rockonpiano.chester.sg/ for a sneak preview of the album.

Blog vs. Portal

For over 5 years, I have maintained a portal that contains news, reviews and insights about products and services. Then one year ago, I started a blog on a separate site. There were times when I asked myself why I should maintain 2 sites that basically does the same thing: to share my thoughts.

Then after my previous post, it became clear. I was right to separate factual information with casual remarks. My portal.chester.sg contains reviews and opinions that are referable. My blog however is just a diary of private thoughts that belonged to me. I needed a platform to share my carefully-researched information, and the portal provides my readers this assurance of a reliable source of information.

Today I found a photography service for babies and families that is very affordable. It's by funshotz. I know by sharing this information, I am potentially losing customers to them, but if someone else can do something better than me for cheaper, why not share with people? I always believe in offering information to people and let them decide themselves, providing an environment of perfect information and perfect competition in economics terms. I would be most interested to evaluate how they can offer at such competitive prices and maybe I should revise my prices. As the ingenious saying goes: you can choose only 2 of the 3 traits - good, cheap, or fast. Think it through yourself and see if it makes sense.

People requests me for photographic or music assignments because they see value and quality in what I offer. I trade in second-hand goods because I see value and so does my buyers. The time when I know I can no longer offer my services is the moment when no one wants my services or when I decide that the reward is not worth the effort.

Decisions are never binary or measurable. Not everything is about price or time. There is the intangible element of the human interaction, something that sometimes is worth paying for.

Out Of Hand

I think the Internet community is getting out of hand. More and more people are making insensitive, crude and lewd remarks on forums and tag boxes of blog sites. It's almost certain that these people do not behave like that in the real lives, but on the Internet world where they can create a virtual identity, they think they can simply be wild and inhibited.

This is quite serious to growing adolescents, who might be easily affected by these remarks. Others who have grown strong to ignore these criticisms could also become insensitive themselves and apply this attitude in the real world.

We get influenced easily by the things and people we encounter. We imitate TV culture, we look up to role models. Today, we spend more time over the Internet, where everyone talks in a bold and thoughtless manner. People then pick up all these communication styles and use it habitually in real life. They might think that it is 'cool' to talk back and be rude, a show of power and control.

Blogs and forums are mostly unmoderated for grammar and content, except expletive phrases. It is like allowing anyone to publish a badly-written book and sell it at bookstores. When people read these personal sites, they got misled by either the grammatical errors or the incorrect facts. Worse, these posts will stay online forever unless the website implements archival policies. Bloggers these days will do anything to increase traffic to their websites in order to entice advertisers to pay for ad space.

With the proliferation of personal content sites, it takes a lot of caution when searching for information, to identify the facts from the fictions, the truth from the fallacies. Young bloggers use their blogs to voice their complaints, only to demonstrate their lack of maturity in handling life's issues. Curry-favourers easily show their support by leaving positive remarks, whether they mean it or not. Provokers can easily sabotage the site by leaving negative comments, perhaps just for the fun of it. The question is: who do you believe?

Then there is the computer virus that lurks out there. Now, even legitimate sites could be infected, so there is no way to claim 100% safe. The irony is that, if hackers and spammers succeed in destroying the Internet, these people would have nothing to live for. They have killed the hand that feeds them. Now that computers are getting so cheap, it probably makes sense to buy a dirt-cheap computer for Internet surfing, and a powerful computer for serious work.

And perhaps one day, when every single human being needs to register a virtual international identity profile to validate his or her authenticity, we will behave ourselves better on the Internet.

Quiet, Don't Tell Her the MP3s are here

I've been doing so much photo taking and editing that I have not touched on my music side of me for the past month, so I decided to arrange 2 pop songs.

"Quiet" 安静 by Jay Chou, is a favourite song to many many people out there. I remember my cousin asking me to teach her how to play this song a few years back, and she only had electone organ training which she stopped for a hundred over months. My arrangement uses the warm pad and strings as accompanying instruments to my piano.

The other song I did is "Don't Tell Her" 不要对她说 by Jeff Chang. A 1995 oldies by pop song standard, songs like this are worth reminiscing. I was reminded of this song when I saw one of Huirong's blog post.

The songs can be listened on my IMEEM playlist at the top right of my blog.

Everybody Loves Mayenne

These days, everywhere we go, we get lots of attention. Passers-by look towards us, relatives swarm around us. Yes, Mayenne is the attraction.

After 5 months, we are getting a hang of Mayenne's behaviour, her likes, her dislikes, her routine. One thing we still haven't figured out: she loves to turn to her tummy, yet after she did that she would be upset and would cry. The only explanation we have now is that she feels immobilised as she has yet to learn how to crawl properly. We try not to put her on her tummy too often for it would most certainly result in a mess of her puke, usually just a spoonful. What we fear is the occasional catastrophic "merlion" effect gives us extra washing and smell.

We also find that her legs are getting very strong, thanks to her persistent leg-stretching exercises that are often so violent that she hits hard objects yet without feeling pain. When we carried her up in the air, her legs would stretch out and lock so tight that she would be able to put her feet firmly on the ground while we support her underarms.

Angie's mum is recovering very well, and she can't wait to hold and carry Mayenne once again. But that has to wait for a few more months until she fully regains her health and mobility. We have also engaged a foreign domestic worker (FDW, a.k.a maid) to care for her mum, and later Mayenne. The FDW should be arriving in a week or two. Meanwhile, my mum has been giving us tremendous help in taking care of Mayenne at times when Angie and I are busy. Thanks to Mayenne's good behaviour, everyone is happy to spend some good times with her.

Here's more good times captured on pixels.

Private Life?

I haven't been blogging much about my private life, which is, um, private. But basically my life has undergone extreme re-configuration after Angie's mum was hospitalised. Since then, the situation is being brought under control, but it will be a few more weeks before we establish a new routine.

That's the beauty of mankind - and every living organism. We evolve and adapt. Humans adapt faster than any other complex living thing because we have a highly-evolved brain to help us analyse and adapt. But often, we try to outsmart ourselves and ended up with detrimental results. Or we may have too many choices and what-ifs and resulting in delays in decision-makings. Other living things are more lucky. They only have one set of responses to follow. Call them stupid, but at least they know their purpose in life.

Look at our baby girl as she grows, we are gradually introducing her knowledge so that she can make decisions. For instance, if she is hungry, initially she could only cry. Then after a while, she finds a new option: to shout for attention to be fed. Very soon in the near future, she will be able to choose to tell us in words and phrases, or any of the above, when she's in a foul mood.

Turn Left, Turn Right

Do you see the figure turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

I found this post from a blogger, Averal. Basically, if you see clockwise, then you use your right brain. If you see anti-clockwise, then you use your left brain. For more explanation, vist her blog and look for the post dated 30 Oct 2007.

I found a way to 'switch' directions. Just focus on the shadow on the legs, then bluff your brain into believing that the legs are rotating in another direction. It took me a while to get it right, and after that, switching was an ease. I guess it's also a good exercise to switch your brains. Maybe you should watch this animation and force yourself to switch to that desired direction in order to use that part of your brain. For instance, if you are undecided about something, and you want to think logically, then look at the animation and force yourself to see the anti-clockwise.

Updated 11 Dec 2007: some readers still think that the animation above is fake, that is, the animation actually changes direction on itself. I've attached a screenshot of the animation sequence here. Click to see. There are 34 frames in this animation and it loops. So whether the dancer turns left or turns right depends on how your brain sees it. This is no trickery: only your brain is tricking you.

Time In, Time Out

meeboguest299231: goodness.. how do u find time 2 compose music, do photoshoots, work in **, blog n take care of family?

After this friend of mine posted this question on Meebo, I then realised how many tasks I have been undertaking all these while.

The answer is: time management. To help me manage my time is Google Calendar. Just like Gmail, this online calendar colour-codes all my various interests so that I make sure I have time for each activity. Google Calendar even comes with SMS notification which I use as a reminder note at appropriate times, e.g. "6pm Buy groceries". You can share your calendar to anyone with Google account, so people can know your schedule if you so choose to. My only wish is for Google to create an applet for the mobile phone like what they did for Gmail.

You really don't have to manage time to the minute. I always leave lots of room between tasks so that I have time to rest and idle. We all know about the "The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee" story. Here's the full article:

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes".

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, " I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things in life. Your God, your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions: things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else: the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean house and fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

I would rather spend time on my passion and my family than on shopping or clubbing or watching TV or monitoring stocks or gym. My life feels meaningful and complete with these activities.

Different people live different lives, but everyone only has 24 hours per day. Choose your priorities and forgo the rest. Live for your passion and your love, and you will find life happier and worth living for.

Google "Piano Spa"

It's been a long long time since I find out how my album has been doing. So I googled it and found some interesting stuffs:

1. A plastic surgeon in Japan used it in his clinic and he claimed Piano Spa is therapeutic. Link
2. My music manager was being interviewed and he gave lots of mention about me and the Piano Spa series. Link
3. A local blogger lists Piano Spa among other CDs as his music to play when he reads. Link
4. A beauty salon in Japan complimented for its "true-to-the-name" relaxing effects. Link
5. Another blogger's body "started to melt" when he heard Piano Spa 3 while shopping.
6. Singapore Polytechnic library has my album, so if you are are student there, you can borrow it.

If you find other interesting online articles, please share with us by leaving comments.

The Balance is Broken

Angie's mum can no longer take care of Mayenne, for now. Doctors diagnose her as angina, a chest pain that occurs because your heart muscle does not get enough blood.

Right now, we are looking for options to manage the situation. Infant care centre, foreign maid, local nanny. We are still weighing our options.

Suddenly, the new car becomes a valuable tool. For the past 2 days, we have been going to the hospital to visit her mum several times, and bringing Mayenne around to my parent's house for temporary babysit. Sometimes I wonder if it is all pre-destined, or perhaps is it our "punishment" for getting a vehicle and polluting the environment?

Mayenne is almost 5 months. She's looking more and more like me in my infancy. In other words, still not girly-looking yet!

Car Servicing: Episode 1000km

Wow, the car has covered 1000km on wheels in just about a month. So today I took half a day and sent the car for a free servicing.

I have prepared a list of complaints hoping that the service advisor (SA) can do something. Well, it turned out to be non-issues.

First, I mentioned that the engine vibrated around 2000rpm. He said it was a normal engine behaviour, something about the torque.

Then, I asked why the car door require so much effort to shut it. He explained that it was due to the cabin pressure and the excellent rubber seals around the car doors. He then demonstrated opening one of the car doors, and I tried closing again. Indeed, it was effortless.

Then I complained that there was some 'clok clok' sounds from somewhere, as if something lose. Unfortunately, that sound refused to appear. I guess if that sound is a result of something serious, it would recur again some time, some day.

So after a test ride, I got nothing out of the car. In other words, the car is functioning perfectly well. I waited for 2 hours before the servicing is completed. Basically, they checked everything inside out of the car, from the light indicators to engine to wheels. And they washed the car clean as well. That's my favourite part.

A Car Owner's Wishful Thinking

Being a first-time car owner, I finally appreciate all the fuss that my parents used to go through in the morning while at the car. I remember my parents carrying a bottle of water to wet the car and to wipe clean before leaving the car park, and I would sit in the car waiting impatiently for them to get over and done with.

Fast-forward 15 years later, I found myself almost having to do the same thing. Almost, because, I eventually did not.

Unless you park at a sheltered indoor lot, it is impossible to upkeep the car to its tip top condition without allocating time for it. For instance, every morning, you would have to wash the car to remove bird droppings, tree saps, tree flowers, pollen and leaves, condensation, rain watermarks.

So, despite sending the car for paint protection (PPS), you still need to wash the car with at least water. If you don't, no one will guarantee your car will remain shiny. And frankly, I was hoping I wouldn't have to spend more time than I could imagine. But in your heart, no matter how care less you want to spend on your car, how could you bear to ruin such an expensive piece of metal? I was thinking: what if I really don't care about the car, would the paint work be really irreversibly ruined by watermarks, bird droppings, tree saps?

So I guess there is no way to run from the fact. A car, like your house, needs to be maintained, no matter if it's black or white or any other colour.

Took me less than a month to realise that. Not bad.

Sweepstakes hard to Digest

You have to admit, they are darn persistent.

For decades, I have received this elaborate package with stickers and mock-up car keys that requires you to send back in complete order so that you have a chance to win the grand prize.

Well, I guess since they have done this for decades, it must have really worked for them.

Then again, no other organisations do this kind of elaborate act. Do they have copyright on this method?

I mean, they even mock up all the documents and certificates and the scratch-n-win enticement. Who are they trying to kid?

Why not just get straight to the point: sign up Reader's Digest for a chance to win the prize.

OK, fine, if they think not everyone has received this kind of publicity before, so to many, it may look genuine.

Then again, shouldn't Reader's Digest check their database against repeated recipients so that their ploy does not get over-used on one individual?

I probably have received this promotion for more than 20 times. In fact, I received 2 just for
these past 2 months! Aren't they getting desperate.

Rowan Atkinson Live... and Kicking Funny

I enjoyed this clip a lot, and I really mean a lot.

I probably have watched it more than 10 times. Each time, I look at how Rowan executes this skit. You have to agree: comedic acts are far more difficult than serious acting. Because, while you can seek reference in every day life for serious acting, you have to seek that formula that tickles the bones of the every day people.




This video shows how he executes the skit with a straight face. Watch it not for his acting but for the twisted skit and its unexpected ending.

Car Years

Funny, time seems to pass by slower when I own a car.

My car is just reach 3 weeks old today but it felt like a long time. I've went past 800km on the odometer, and soon I can go for my free 1000km servicing. The body has some irremovable battle scars thanks to bird droppings, and I wished I could send the car for another round of re-glossing at Tuff Kote to remove the stains (but costs $60).

Perhaps it's because I spend less time waiting for public transport. Or perhaps I spend more time stuck in traffic jams.

Having the car has advantages. I'll be kidding myself if I think otherwise.

During last Saturday's photoshoot, I did not drive the car because I proposed they take public transport so that I can capture some shots of them. So I took the cab from my house. And I had to wait 15 minutes to get one. When I got in the cab, I chatted with the driver and he said that cab drivers no longer start their shift early because there is no surcharge and most companies implement 5-day work week. So, I thought, getting a car now has been a right decision.

Then that same afternoon, I drove to the Sony Ericsson M600i buyer's house to sell him the phone.

Then on Monday, Angie told me her mum left some groceries at her house, so we drove there after work to pick it up.

Then yesterday, we drove the car after dinner to the MacLaren TechnoXT buyer to sell her the stroller.

Still, I strongly feel that driving to work is unnecessary, because the peak hour traffic and the ERP charges are simply unjustifiable. However, when I saw how bird droppings and fruit saps ruin the car body, I have to think again leaving my car at my car park for long term.

Montage of Love

I enjoy doing photo montages, because through montages and music, I can piece together a story that might not be possible with just a single static photo.

Video or motion picture does not have that problem because you see action and you hear the interaction.

I probably should delve into videography but I hate the idea that you need to edit the footage to make it presentable, whereas a photo can, by itself, be presentable.

When doing montages, I let the music inspire me, taking cues from the verses and choruses. The background songs are always selected by the clients, so I'll never know what I'll be getting. But as long as I (literally) move the images according to the song, I should always get it right, because after all the song is selected by the clients who obviously hold special meaning to them.

In this montage, I purposely timed the chorus to fall on the veiling rituals and later the groom kissing the bride. I also created the black-and-white images on the repeat verse after the first chorus to display some journalistic excitement. I almost often try to end the montage with some romantic images of the couple.

This is the draft first cut. After the couple reviewed it, they requested for changes for aesthetic reasons. But personally I prefer this version.

Busy October

No time to blog. Too many assignments to accomplish. Work at office is also piling up.

Just finished a music arrangement project - 13 songs. Last Sat just did a half day private outdoor shoot. Today did a half day wedding shoot, and spent the rest of the day producing the montage. During any available free time, I have to edit photos from another wedding a week back. And there is also some gadget reviews that I have yet to post (took some product photos also).

And there is Mayenne's photos that I have to edit so that I can post it up here. Here she is, holding her head up with ease lying on her tummy. More to come, once I clear my paid assignments.

Facebook Sells!

I've put a sale post on a mobile phone forum few weeks back to sell my M600i. No reply.

Then early this week, I decided to put on facebook Marketplace. Within an hour, I got 4 genuine offers. For the next few days, I got a handful more.

I'm sold on the facebook hype. Really. I even told my wife to blog on facebook instead of Blogspot since friends will get updates via the facebook profile effectively.

If you want to sell something that appeals to the young, do it on facebook.

This morning, I did a photoshoot with 6 girls. It's the one that got postponed a few weeks back due to the rain. This is the first time I am doing a group shoot project and it is really exciting. We went to their JC, with them all donned in JC uniform. Then went to Raffles Place to capture them in office attire. Then to the Esplanade with convocation gown, and finally to their favourite restaurant for some casual shoots. That practically covers their journey of youth.

Now I am literally toast from the sun. Just hope that my skin doesn't go into some severe reactions.

Every Road Leads to ... Traffic Jams

I wanted to find the fastest way to get back home from the CBD. But after analysing the street directory, it seems impossible to find that perfect route. I reckon there are 10,000 other motorists who thinks like me, and they would have tried and taken what they felt is the 'fastest' route. But when more motorists take that route, it no longer becomes the fastest.

In the end, the most direct way to get back home is, unfortunately, via the ERP-laden CTE.

Won't You Be My Friend - Facebook?

Facebook has become such a phenomenon, a choir actually sang to the tune of "Dream".

Testing Testing Testing (T3) F50fd

I am invited to be a guest blogger on the T3 Magazine Website. Last Monday I went to their office and borrowed the Fujifilm F50fd, which is of interest to me because I owned a F31fd.

So how does F50fd actually fare? I posted the review on the T3 Magazine site, so you can visit there to read about it.

But apparently, the editors snipped a large chunk of my review off the site. The reason? They want to put my review on their November issue of T3 instead! Coolness!

Happy Children's Day, Mayenne!

The Crying Rituals

For the past few Sunday evenings, Mayenne would be out with us for dinner. She would be a good baby with little fuss.

For the past 2 Sunday evenings, once we got back home, she would start wailing and crying for a good 30 minutes, sometimes longer.

I have a few explanations:

1. She realises that her outing is over and so she cries for more.
2. She is colicky - only after an outing.
3. She gets traumatised during her outing (too much stimulants?) and only lets out her anger/anxiety/sadness when she returns to a familiar environment, a.k.a. home.

We'll have to monitor the situation in order to pinpoint the real cause.

Meanwhile, she has already managed to flip to her tummy on her own, and she can lift up her head very well on her tummy. It's so heartening to see baby grow and learn new things, but it also brings sadness, because, with each passing day, as she learns new things and grows into a better person, she leaves behind moments that we can only relive in our memories.

Down on Gadget Luck

This week my family has experienced some of the worst gadget experiences.

Tuesday, I went to Sim Lim Square to redeem a free bluetooth headset (Lanso A6) when I signed up with OCBC EasiCredit. After bringing back to office and charging for more than 12 hours, it refused to work. The charging indicator is on, but once I unplugged it, there is no power. I'm still charging it as I type this post: about 40 hours already? I reckon there is no point bringing back for an exchange because the product is so bad, even an exchange might not guarantee that it will last for a month. And the transportation costs and time spent is better used on other areas. Well done, OCBC. Hope you try harder.
Then my wife bought a new mini-compo, the Philips MCM108D, because the existing one in our bedroom (also a Philips, 6 years old) is getting quirky. The old hi-fi would randomly go dead, or that it would take several minutes to 'warm up' before a sound could be heard.

Ironically, the new hi-fi set is worse than the old one. Well, it looks great and stylish, but the functions are crap.

Firstly, there are no radio presets. None. You have to tune it digitally using the rolling knob, just like the old days. OK we can live with that, at least the knob allows us to tune faster than the 2-button tuner.

Then, according to the manual, the wake-up timer volume is preset at "12" and will gradually go louder to "18". What the? The previous hi-fi allows you to set any volume. Our workaround is to set the wake-up timer to play the CD with some soothing music (like Piano Spa). Think we outsmarted the machine? This morning, when the CD started spinning from the wake-up timer, my wife switched off the player before the track played. When she returned from the bathroom and switched to the radio, the volume stood at "18". She frantically lowered the volume before her nerves got damaged further. Perhaps we need to get a muffler for the speakers.

It comes with docking stations for iPod and GoGear (Philip) but we have none of these to complement. Still, my wife chose for the looks. And it's cheap. But I think she now regretted buying this white elephant. Well done, Philips. Please don't try so hard to reinvent the wheel.

I Like Routine

I like routine, not because I'm a boring person (actually, I am). With routine, I can plan my other ad-hoc activities around these fixed activities.

If I live by the day, then how am I supposed to plan activities for tomorrow, or next week, or next month?

Routine allows you to find a match with your peers over a period of time. If my friends have routine, then it's easier to plan ahead to meet. For friends with no routine in their lives, it is impossible to meet them. They are either busy with activities that come their way at the last minute, or they would say they are busy with activities that are expected to come their way.

Then again, to them, being busy is a routine for them. Perhaps, when they become idle, they would feel uneasy and unplanned.

The Sony Ericsson P1i

It's more well-designed than I had thought.

When I initially saw the product announcement, I wasn't very impressed with the look, and the keyboard which follows the M600i instead of the previous P-series. The M600i is totally plastic all around the casing.

Not P1i. It has brushed-aluminum around the frame, and a rubber backing much like T68. The speaker is hidden stylishly on top of the camera lens behind a metal bar. The sides employ glossy black plastic that is prone to fingerprints. Buttons like power and camera are in silver while the rest are blended in the same black tone. Its LED indicator is placed below the phone near to the port connector, another unique feature that my wife likes. The keyboard is easier to press than the M600i.

While taking some shots of the M600i which I am trying to sell on the Internet, I can't resist taking some snaps on the P1i.

Angie's Birthday Gift Adventure

I have long thought of what to get for Angie's birthday - the Sony Ericsson P1i. I guess she also expected me to get it for her. Last year, I got her the M600i, which currently sells for more than half the price brand new.

I didn't want to purchase too early or else the warranty would have kicked in. But this week was a crazy week for me. 19th, we had to go home early to get a birthday cake for Angie's mum. 20th, we're together whole day to collect car. 21st, there is a Mid-Autumn Festival party at my office and I was asked to perform some songs.

Fortunately, Angie is also away in the evening. Her company had D&D, and her mum decided to get her own dinner instead of me buying back. So now I can make a detour after work to buy the present. And it's not just any mobile shop. I went specially to Mobilesquare at Far East Plaza where they sold the cheapest P1i in the market.

The multi-storey car park at Far East Plaza isn't very car-friendly. The ramps are quite tight and I had a trying time navigating, party because I was driving my 1-day-old car.

After I got home, I pasted the screen protector and charged the phone. When she called me to pick her, I placed the phone in the box on the bed. After she got home, it took her a long while before she got into the bedroom. I was spying for her reaction outside the room, and when she finally saw the box and picked it up, I went into the room and wished her "Happy Birthday!"

The P1i is really good looking, much better than the M600i that she is using. There are brushed-metal finishing with rubber surfacing on the back of the phone, reminding me of the T68. The buttons are also easier to press than the M600i. On the whole, though, I still prefer my P990i way of key entry.

I know that photos will make blogs more interesting, but I have no strong intentions to 'commercialise' my blog. If I got photos and if I have time, I will post. Photos or lack of, well-wishers will read my posts thoroughly, and that's my target audience. And if no one reads, this will just serve as an event log.

Car update: the air-con doesn't seem to be cold enough, compared to my dad's 4-year-old car. I'm definitely going back to the service centre within the next month. And the solar film also didn't really perform as expected. Maybe I am expecting too much in our humid sunny island.

Magnum

My parents have always owned a car since I was very little, so family outings are always a breeze. But for all my other social and academic-related activities, I take public transport. So in a way, I am very familiar with car use, minus the hassle of maintaining one. I never appreciated cars - not in a 'taken-for-granted' kind of way, but rather, I don't care less about designs, engine power, body work, tyres, rims, fuel efficiency, etc. Cars are just transportation tools. When I hop on a friend's car, I don't bother about the car make, model, or even the car colour.

But all this car-purchasing process has opened up another experience and gain new knowledge in my life.

Today, I am officially a car-slave.

We picked up the car at the Chevrolet Alpine Motors service centre at Sin Ming. It didn't take long for me to notice a crack on the signal plastic cover on the left side mirror, for which they promised me a replacement during my next servicing appointment. Dex the sales exec had kindly sent the car for System 6 paint protection at Tuff Clad prior to our collection, so that saved us 3 hours.

Although the car is not supposed to come with fog lamps, it was installed, and Dex had no idea why. Ironic, because for the price you pay, the dealers often have no idea of the complete configuration details until the car reaches the owner. Dex also forewarned me that the brand of the sound system depends on batches. For ours, it's not Blaupunkt.

Our first destination after driving out the car is to fix the solar film at Thermal Guard at MacPherson Road. When we returned an hour later after lunch, we were surprised that the car was ready.

Next stop: Autobacs off Upper Bukit Timah Road, to grab some accessories like cleaning cloth, leather and dashboard cleaning liquid, etc. I was contemplating changing the car horn - the Optra horn sounds like a toy car - but reckon we seldom horn anyway.

Final stop: AMK Hub to do grocery shopping.

I was quite happy with the performance of the car. In fact, the feel is similar to my dad's Opel Astra-G, making me feeling very at ease.

I do notice one issue: during gradual acceleration after the gearbox switches to 2nd gear when the RPM is still low, there is a minor engine vibration which goes away only after further acceleration. If this persists, I'll have to get the service centre to check.

And so the responsibility begins, for now I have to care for this $56000 asset, the single most expensive movable item I have ever owned.

What The F ?

Facebook, that is!

There has been reports on the immense popularity of Facebook in America, but it never occurred to me how different it can be to Friendster or other online community sites, until I finally tried it yesterday, when someone finally invited me to Facebook. It's the way the community is designed with all the third-party widgets and applications that provides you with never-ending possibilities of exploring the virtual community. Let me share with you how it could go on and on.

First, you create your own profile, afterwhich you can retrieve your online email's contacts and let Facebook search for your contacts who also have Facebook. Once you choose to add them, they will be notified to add you back. As they add you, they can create a comment on how you are related. You can then accept the relation or you can change the relation. For instance, a friend can comment that "you worked together", or you are both members of a club.

When they have accepted your invitation, they will most likely send you some invites to add some applications, like virtual pets, virtual gardens, virtual gifts, virtual drinks, online games, etc. And when you add them, you will be led to the application to customise or add other friends in your list. And it goes on.

For every action you do, Facebook captures it as a 'news feed', much like a history of actions. But the most ingenious thing that Facebook does is to update you, on your Facebook homepage, what your friends have been up to. They could either have updated their status (like "I'm at work"), or added some new friends, or did something to their friends (like commenting on their page), or added new photos. This update makes you learn new things about your friends and leads you to explore their profile. And in their profile, you see more information on the activities surrounding your friends. For instance, if your friend has a virtual pet, someone could "pet" or "feed" the pet and you can see the status.

As your friends list grows, you will get lots and lots of updates, and as you explore your friends' profiles, it might lead you to other friends, and uncover long lost associates or classmates.

My Facebook account is barely 2 days old. Mind you, I have not even explored other default features like photos, groups, marketplace. I am so convinced that it is a worthy and fun site that I got my wife to join too.

I liked the fact that Facebook involves you with your friends' activities and updates, unlike other online community where you have practically nothing to do after you created an account and added your contacts. Facebook pushes information to you regarding your friends - people whose lives you take great interest in knowing - people who means something to you.